But such films are not really necessary for that, they are not even enough. No one would believe that Islam is a religion of violence on the say-so of a film. Followers of the Muslim religion are pretty adept at showing their religion to be unsympathetic. And anyone who reads Muslim holy texts will see that Islam is a religion that encourages violence against innocents.

Erik: For example, if someone were to post up a video denying or praising the Holocaust or portraying Jewish religious figures as money grubbing con artists,

Not a proper comparison. The Holocaust happened, it’s one of the best documented events in history. And if a Jewish religious figure is actually a money grubbing con artist (as many members of the Shas party in Israel were), then it is entirely correct to point it out. People merely point out that Muhammad was an extremely evil man: who slaughtered 700 Jews and sold their women and children into slavery. That’s a fact. You can’t compare it to slander, because slander is by definition something that is not true.

Erik: When you have a film like the one that has recently made a splash, it not only disparages the religion of the people but ultimately encourages anxiety and even contempt of the adherents themselves which can culminate in the persecution or violence towards them.

Who has been violent? Not critics of Islam. Followers of Islam have been violent, because Islam is a religion that encourages violence against innocents.

Erik: The actions of so-called “Islamic” radicals and tyrants against innocents, whether they are Christians or fellow Muslims, is inexcusable and evil,

I am glad that you finally got around to condemning the murderous mobs. But you still put Islamic within scare quotes. Is it your position that people who kill innocents cannot be Muslims? Then Muhammad was not a Muslim, for the aforementioned crime of killing 700 innocent Jews and selling their women and children into slavery.

Erik: respect is possible in a time where the conflicts between East and West has seemingly pitted these two great faiths against one another.

No, my good man, what pitted these two faiths against each other is Muhammad’s commandment to fight against the unbelievers until they are subjugated and pay the unbeliever tax, the jizyah (Koran 9:29). What has pitted these two against each other is the division Muslims make of the world, between the House of Islam (Dar-al-Islam) and the House of War (Dar-al-Harb), against which Muslims are to wage war until it is surrenders to Muslim rule. The word Islam itself means surrender, and not without good reason. There is nothing great about Islam, but its wrongs.

Likewise, there are many radical Protestants who have attempted to paint Catholics as being part of the church of the devil and pushing the agenda of the Anti-Christ. Sometimes this paranoid criticism has led to abuses of Catholics by radical Protestant and nationalist organizations.

When you have a film like the one that has recently made a splash, it not only disparages the religion of the people but ultimately encourages anxiety and even contempt of the adherents themselves which can culminate in the persecution or violence towards them. When the Israelis go in and bulldoze and slaughter Palestinian civilians or steal land from the Lebanese or Syrians all with American money, much of which intentionally given by Christian politicians and citizens, people are less likely to feel sympathy for the Muslim people on the receiving end if they don’t see Islam as being worthy of respect or as something fundamentally dangerous that needs to be gotten rid of. And much damage has been done to the Islamic peoples of the Middle East by predominately Christian Western powers over these last centuries and Westerners can and do often ignore or excuse the injustices by the “fact” that Muslims are a fundamentally “dangerous” people who follow a “destructive” or “evil” religion.

The actions of so-called “Islamic” radicals and tyrants against innocents, whether they are Christians or fellow Muslims, is inexcusable and evil, but so is the Christian mindset that aims to cause sedition and separation between the Muslims and Christians of the East who seek to build a future together. Pope Benedict XVI, may God bless him, has helped to show that Muslim and Christian unity and respect is possible in a time where the conflicts between East and West has seemingly pitted these two great faiths against one another.

This is beyond offensive. And the Muslim world, quick to be offended at a lot of things, is strangely silent on these matters. It should be out in the streets protesting these atrocities. Instead, it is outraged about some movie no one had ever heard about until they started protesting it. That tells me all I need to know.